Grrl Power #154 – Predictably unpredictable
Hey Sydney, do something embarrassing then act like a lunatic. Oh yeah. There it is. That’s what we’re all here for.
Hmm. Not too much else to say about this page. Not really sure where Sydney had The List stowed. Presumably inside the flight suit… ooh, I know, down in one of the pockets on the legs. Mystery solved.
So anyone looking forward to Saint’s Row IV? I don’t have nearly as much time for video games lately, but open world mayhem games are high on my list. I’ve enjoyed the Saint’s Row and Prototype series quite a bit. (Just Cause 2 was pretty good too) GTA not so much after GTA 3, mostly because of the incongruous storylines. The stories are all about characters who are trying to make good, then the missions are “kill 20 people in a drive by” where as in Saint’s Row, you’re a gangster trying to violently take down all the other gangs, and the missions are “Steal a septic truck and spew sewage all over downtown” or “have a car chase only instead of cars it’s in rickshaws drawn by guys in gimp suits.” Prototype was just “Hulk: Ultimate Destruction” with a protagonist they didn’t have to pay a license to use.
Who knows, maybe GTA 5 will be better about that. The trailers make it look like you’re up to no good, but it’s definitely the most tame of the big open world games. I may pick it up when it comes to PC. Anyway, Saint’s Row 4 has a character maker you can download for free. I made Maxima in it. Weirdly with all the options they have that was the closest I could get. Their lack of belly shirts disturbs me. It’s either tube tops or giant shirts and jackets.
Oh, and Grrl Power has moved on to Round 2 of the TGT Tournament. Thanks for your votes!
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DaveB, I have to mention something I have seen since rereading the comic.
Dabbler’s hair style has changed from just before the conference. Previously she had blonde hair with peach streaks at the front with the lower two braids being blonde and the top braids being peach.
As from page #146 the streaks have disappeared and the lower braids are peach.
??
Note that none of this is Dabbler’s “true” appearance, just a disguise she maintains via her arcane abilities. Maybe it shifts depending on how well she is concentrating at any given moment. Maybe it is influenced by other conditions (eg. sunspot activity, proximity to leylines, number of observers, etc., etc.). Maybe variation is just plain inevitable for this kind of thing.
Provided such changes are limited to the kinds of things that we as humans do anyhow, such as by having hair dyed or re-styled, and it does not change at times when it would be suspicious, then she can get away with it.
Well shoot. I should probably fix that. It is an illusion, but she wouldn’t have had any reason to change it.
messing with people isn’t reason enough? just a thought…
I could see Dabbler changing it from time-to-time just to mix it up.
I keep giving Sydney’s voice as Lina Inverse’s (from Slayers)
Bad news. Something terrible is going to burst out of Arianna’s body, like the critter in Alien! You can first see it crawling through her forehead in panel 4 last week. Now it has moved down to her chest and has swollen enough to be visible, even from behind her tie, in the final panel above. This is going to be bloody!
At least Arianna knows Sydney well enough to predict some unpredictable behavior & was prepared to deliver her “excuse” for it during the press conference…And to emphasize that Sydney is a RECENT recruit.
Oh, wow. Those first five panels remind me of school days. Nerdy girl gets distracted by attention from one of the cool kids and then busted by the teacher. Then the guilty blurtation, nervous laugh, and… what? Usually, there’s an embarrassed effacement period, but not Syd. You go, girl. :D
Is that Bob Newhart in the porkpie hat in panel 6?
You mean standing in front of Clark Kent? That sure looks like a ’80s version of ol’ Bob. “This is my brother Darryl, and my other brother Darryl.” I always thought that it should have been Larry, Darryl, and Daryll though. Change the spelling a bit but mot the pronunciation…
I’ve had a random thought crop up (frightful thing to occur, I know): In all the time Sydney has had the orbs, has she ever tried bringing two of them in contact while holding them? This might be a way to add to the power bank, if desired. Of course, the way the powers interact with each other just might be not predicable from the powers each have by themselves.
She has tried holding them in her butt-crack. I think we can safely assume that she has tried all simpler manipulations, before reaching that extreme. And probably a few more complicated ones since. Although the example I cited was to do with a specific test (checking if she could use more than two at a time or use something other than her hands), she has also been testing other things beyond just that. Someday she will think “ponies”.
That is not to say that there may not be a way for her to combine the powers or change the way they operate or interact with each other. Just that either it is not simple as touching the orbs together or she is holding out on that discovery. I do not think the latter is likely.
She might learn to spread ans strengthen her grip to where she could hold two in each hand.
Possibly. But I think unlikely. DaveB is being foresightful in building interesting limits into each hero’s powers. Limiting the options of the characters allows situations where they cannot just overwhelm every opponent or situation they face. The ‘no more than two powers at a time’ is one such. Which can create interesting dilemmas at times. That will require Halo to improvise or make some hard moral choices. Therefore I think the restriction will be a fundamental one that hand stretching, cybernetic limbs and the like will not overcome.
So i was looking at the cast page for dabs……. : https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/wp-content/themes/comicpress/images/page_gfx/cast_page/bio_dabbler.jpg …… How many boobs does she actually have?
Two. The original concept called for four, but DaveB was not happy with getting a realistic look to clothing with that anatomy, so has decided to go with two. Consider the cast page to be her experimenting with different appearances by illusions or cybernetics, if you want.
So four is too many for dabs but ten is a-ok for harem?
10 spread out over 5 bodies vs. 4 spread out over 1?
Actually, I find it very easy to imagine Dabbler using her powers to LOOK like she had 4 boobs, just to mess with someone’s head.
Just noticing this now, but from the press’s perspective, it looks like that book is a list of what is and isn’t her powers. Which makes them think “How many damn powers does she have?”
Ooh, Sydney is making herself appear more powerful to scare baddies!
The way Sydney’s glasses hang so damned low on her face is extremely offputting.
Plus the fact they’re basically just two single-pixel circles and adjoining lines.
Figured I’d just mention it here… as opposed to other places… for reasons.